Ex-Army analyst nabbed with manual at airport

By Tim Talley THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saturday

Aug 28, 2010 at 12:19 AM

A former U.S. Army analyst from Oklahoma was arrested in Minneapolis while trying to board a one-way flight to China with electronic files containing a restricted Army field manual, authorities said Friday.

Federal prosecutors said Liangtian Yang, 26, also known as Alfred Yang, of Lawton, Okla., allegedly was carrying multiple data storage devices when he was arrested Thursday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Yang was charged in Oklahoma City with one count of theft of government property, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Defense attorney Frederick Goetz of Minneapolis said the charge is a misdemeanor, but declined to comment further Friday.

Yang made his initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, Minn. A detention hearing was scheduled for Monday to determine when Yang will be returned to Oklahoma, said Bob Troester, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City.

Yang worked as an analyst at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill until Aug. 16, when his clearance was revoked because of security violations, according to an FBI affidavit in the case. The affidavit did not disclose the nature of the violations.

During security screening before a Tokyo-bound flight with China as its final destination, authorities found Yang, a Chinese national, was carrying multiple media storage devices that were confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, the affidavit said.

One of the devices contained an Army field manual restricted for use by Department of Defense employees, the document said.

“The subject was not authorized to be in possession of this material, nor was he authorized to have it on his personal computer,” the affidavit said.

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